Wedding Weekend

The wedding is Saturday and I am so pleased with the framing. However, taking a picture with my little camera and looking at the quilt through anti-glare glass doesn't do it justice. The matting is dark green with a second of burgundy. The frame has dark burgundy with the sweetest beaded border. 

Hope everyone has a safe weekend.
Sew Happy to Share,

Design Wall Monday 5/21/12

Last Wednesday I finished the wedding gift for my daughter's wedding this Saturday.   Got it to the framer, and was told he could have it ready before Thursday.  He is amazing and together we picked out the most amazing molding and a double mat.  I'll be posting pictures of the finished work. 

I did start making the applique pieces for block four of Florabunda, but nothing to show.  The quilt was on hold while I make the wedding applique. 

If you want to know the story behind the hearts take a look at my Applique Thursday post. 

Also, bounce over to Judy's and see all of the other posts to Design Wall Monday.
Sew Happy to Share,

Applique Thursday- Wedding Gift

A first for this ‘closet quilter’
Our daughter is marrying a wonderful man, bringing to the marriage, each, two children.  I was told that during the wedding ceremony they will be pinning each child with a special heart pin.
(Sidebar) Both Kim and Bob have built their relationship on Biblical principles with God as their foundation.  The pin, with the smaller hearts interlaced together by the center heart (their children) each outer heart represents them. Yet all hearts are held together by the larger heart representing God.  It is with this foundation they know their commitment to each other will remain strong.

The first challenge was finding a picture of THE pin she described. Then how to convey what I had in mind and put it on fabric?

I drew a sketch.

Put it to scale, created my appliqué pieces, since that's what I love doing, and  'wow I was on a roll!'  STOP!!! Let's get real... think it through before jumping in. I needed to ask some very important questions: Was I going to quilt it before or after I did the applique?  Do I embroider before or after quilting?  I decided to embroider the names first with hopes I could successfully quilt around them. 

 

I then created the appliqué banner and embroidered the name Adams putting it to the side to applique after quilting.  When it was time to applique the banner I realized it looked plain with no depth or definition. With a little more embroidery work, now it looks like a ribbon banner.

 My FIRST attempt at machine quilting. I drew swirls using a Piolt Frixion pen (amazing, it disappears with a little iron heat). It wasn't necessary to draw them over the entire piece.  Just enough to follow until my confidence grew.

The interlacing of the hearts was tricky for me but I think they came out ok.  At first, I was going to use different fabrics so the hearts would be distinctive from each other.  However, when I laid them together the difference in color didn’t flow making my eyes bounce all over the place.  Certainly not giving the message of ‘unity’ of the families. Thus the reason the hearts are all the same color.

Of course doing the applique was enjoyed the most.

I will be framing the finished piece, hopefully completed in time for the wedding next week.

Take a look at A Quilting Reader's Garden on Applique Thursday.
Sew Happy to share,

Design Wall Monday 5/7/12

Good morning... And what a wonderful morning it truly is!!
Block 3 is nearly finished, have only the center circle to sew. This was interesting and a lengthy challenge with so many points on flower petals and leaves. I also realize I need to cut my stems on the bias.  Note the little puckers in the stem curves, kind of like an old wash boarded dirt road.

Check out what everyone is creating on Judy’s blog at Patchwork Times.
Until next post......
Stay Sew Happy!